Academic Writing

Thursday, January 7, 2016

really vs so

We can use adverbs like really and so before a positive adjective.
Example:
- She's really outgoing.
- He was so creative.

We can use the same adverbs before a negative adjective, but we normally do this only
if we do not like the person or are angry with them.

Example:
- She 's so nosy

If we say something negative about someone, e.g. She is impatient, or He is unreliable,
it can sound rude or too direct. We often 'soften ' negative comments for this reason.
Here are two ways of doing this:
• with can be a bit
Example:
- She can be a bit impatient.
• with not very + a positive adjective
Example:
- He's not very reliable.

If you use a character adjective to describe someone, you should expand on it or explain it.
Examples:
- She 's really outgoing and sociable - she's always going out with friends and colleagues.
- He 's not very reliable, so, for example, if I email him, he won 't respond.
- She 's terribly blunt, which means she quite often upsets us with the things she says.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Poster and Presentation Resources

Academic Poster Presentations

General Presentation Advice: (presenting academic research, communicating to a lay audience)

Free Poster Template

http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/free_poster_templates.html

The best site for poster template
http://www.makesigns.com/SciPosters_Templates.aspx

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Which should you use, "toward" or "towards"?

Question

Margaret from the US asked when to use toward and towards.

Answer

Although this is a question that confuses many, the answer is simple: Toward and towards are completely interchangeable, so you can use either one whenever you want.
Now let’s go a little deeper:

Making a presentation: language and phrases

This is a list of phrases to help you make a professional presentation in English.

Good presenters always use language (sometimes single words, sometimes phrases) which shows where they are in their presentation. These ‘signposts’ make it easier for the audience to:

follow the structure of the presentation
understand the speaker more easily
get an idea of the length and content of the presentation.

The sentences and phrases below follow the logical progression of a well-balanced presentation.

Welcoming

Good morning and welcome to [name of company, name of conference hall, hotel, etc.].
Thank you all very much for coming today.
I hope you all had a pleasant journey here today.

Introducing yourself

My name is Mark Watson and I am responsible for … .

My name is Mark Watson from [name of company], where I am responsible for … .

Let me introduce myself; my name is Mark Watson and I am responsible for … .

Introducing your presentation

The purpose of today’s presentation is to … .

The purpose of my presentation today is to … .

In today’s presentation I’d like to … show you … . / explain to you how … .

In today’s presentation I’m hoping to … give you an update on… / give you an overview of … .

In today’s presentation I’m planning to … look at … . / explain … .

You can also outline your presentation to give the audience a clear overview of what they can expect:

In today’s presentation I’m hoping to cover three points:

firstly, … , after that we will look at … , and finally I’ll … .

In today’s presentation I’d like to cover three points:

firstly, … , secondly … , and finally … .

Explaining that there will be time for questions at the end

If you have any questions you’d like to ask, please leave them until the end, when I’ll be happy to answer them.

If there are any questions you’d like to ask, please leave them until the end, when I’ll do my best to answer them.

Starting the presentation

To begin with … .

To start with … .

Let’s start by looking at … .
Let’s start by looking at … .

I’d like to start by looking at … .
Let’s start with / start by looking at … .

Closing a section of the presentation

So, that concludes [title of the section] … .
So, that’s an overview of … .
I think that just about covers … .

Beginning a new section of the presentation

Now, let’s move on to … .
Now, let’s take a look at … .

Now I’d like to move on to … .
Next I’d like to take a look at … .

Moving on to the next part, I’d like to … .
Moving on to the next section, let’s take a look at … .

Concluding and summarising the presentation

Well, that brings us to the end of the final section. Now, I’d like to summarise by … .

That brings us to the end of the final section. Now, if I can just summarise the main points again.
That concludes my presentation. Now, if I can just summarise the main points.
That’s an overview of … . Now, just to summarise, let’s quickly look at the main points again.

Finishing and thanking

Thank you for your attention.

That brings the presentation to an end.

That brings us to the end of my presentation.

Finally, I’d like to finish by thanking you (all) for your attention.

Finally, I’d like to end by thanking you (all) for coming today.

I’d like to thank you (all) for your attention and interest.

Inviting questions

If anyone has any questions, I’ll be pleased to answer them.

If anyone has any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them now.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them and I’ll do my best to answer.

Referring to a previous point made

As I mentioned earlier … .

As we saw earlier … .

You may recall that we said … .

You may recall that I explained … .

Dealing with (difficult) questions

I’ll come back to that question later if I may.

I’ll / We’ll come back to that question later in my presentation.

I’ll / We’ll look at that point in more detail later on.
Perhaps we can look at that point at the end / a little later.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Till vs Until

I regularly receive questions from people who are confused about "till," "until," and " 'til."
When you're talking about a period of time that must lapse before something happens, "till" and "until" are equivalent. Don't believe it? Check a dictionary. "Till" actually came first, and "until" followed more recently.

We spun in circles until we were dizzy.
We ran till we were breathless.

" 'Til" is also an acceptable shortened form of "until," but the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says the form is “etymologically incorrect.”
If you want to avoid controversy, it's safest to stick with "until."
- See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/until-till-and-til#sthash.W27cr9Jc.dpuf

We spun in circles until we were dizzy.
We ran till we were breathless.

We spun in circles until we were dizzy.
We ran till we were breathless.

Shame vs Ashamed

There are still quite a few people who become confused with the words ashamed and shame. Perhaps it’s because ashamed has the root word shame in it that makes it confusing. In reality, it’s the usage of both words that may appear complicated for some English users. This is often true when the word shame is used with the letter ‘d’ resulting to the term ‘shamed.’

Foremost, the two terms differ because they are two different word types. Shame is a noun while ashamed is an adjective. As a noun, shame is described as a painful feeling that may arise from the thought or the realization of something disgraceful, vile and detestable whether it be done by someone else or by oneself. Thus it is an emotion or an affect so to speak. An example of using shame in a sentence is ‘He has been filled with shame after killing those women.’

Shame can also be synonymous to disgrace as in the example, ‘You brought great shame upon the name of our family!’ Similarly, it can signify a very disgraceful state as in the case of, ‘The issue involving the company was a shame to all!’ The word shame can also become a transitive verb when converted to the terms ‘shamed, shames or shaming.’ In this instance, the meaning of the word will become more of forcing or driving something or someone into shame like, ‘She shamed him into going.’

One of the most common situations wherein someone will feel shame is when he or she gets caught lying. Thus, this word is somewhat similar to embarrassment although it is generally a more painful feeling than the latter. Shame is also considered to have a social aspect. It is a very broad term that can have many subtypes like genuine, false, toxic and vicarious shame.

Conversely, ashamed is generally used as an adjective. It is when one is feeling the guilt or shame. When this happens to a person, it is safe to describe him or her as being ashamed. A good example of using the word ashamed is seen in this sentence ‘“ ‘Is she not even ashamed for stealing her classmate’s stuffs at school?’

In summary, shame and ashamed are two very different words because of the following reasons:

1. Shame is generally used as a noun whereas ashamed is typically used as an adjective.

2. Shame is the actual feeling (an affect or emotion) which is considered to be a painful one while ashamed is feeling shame itself.

[word, phrase]		[meaning, function]

briefly	…	‘very quickly’
take a look at	…	‘look at’
take a brief look at	…	‘quickly look at’
return to	…	‘go back’, ‘explain again’
I’ll outline	…	‘I will explain’
here we can see	…	to draw attention to a specific point on a slide
as you can see here	…	to draw attention to a specific point on a slide
(let’s) move on to	…	to start a new subject
(let’s) continue with	…	to start a new subject
(let’s) continue by looking at	…	to start a new subject
to illustrate this point	…	when giving an example
let’s, we can, we will	…	using ‘we’ and ‘us’ instead of ‘I’ connects you to your audience